my bp is aggressive all of a sudden.

[NickP]

All of a sudden my bp is acting very aggressive, hissing and is rather jumpy everytime I try to pick him up. I haven't really changed anything in his tank. Yesterday I easily picked him up and he was just fine, then I believe I was a bit rough on him (i was a bit drunk - bad idea) and he was being very jumpy so I put him back.

Today, he moved form the cool side to the warm side about few hours ago and just now I tried picking him up but he is jumpy and aggressive. Hasn't hissed yet really but I feel like it's coming. Wondering why this may be. He is due to shed but his belly hasn't started turning pink and his eyes are very clear.

Setup: 20g long tank. I've got two hides, water bowl and a climbing tree. One side is 83F and the other 90.1 as of right now. Humidity is 45%. The tank has a background image and the other two shorter sides are covered with foam board. The top is also covered with the foam board.

[Reediculous]

sounds normal..........Bp's are shy, hissing's not aggressive. striking maybe, but not hissing........

[rabernet]

You have good days and bad days, days where you don't want to be bothered. Why wouldn't he?

[Sparky1]

I have to agree if he is not striking it is not agression, hissing is pretty common if they dont want you to mess with them. Just because you can not see the signs of him being in shed it does not mean that it has not started and he is feeling all tight and uncomfortable.

[NickP]

Well I'm pretty sure he would've struck if I continued bothering him.

[frankykeno]

And you stopped bothering him and he didn't strike...cause and effect. This is a snake, simple basic instinctive brained snake. It's going to act like a snake.

Handling it will under the influence isn't a great idea for you or for your snake.

[Ginevive]

I have a spitfire too. She is one of my '07 babies. She hisses, and would strike if I let her. I stop this by Gently tapping her head back with the nozzle of an empty spray bottle when I slide her tub open. She recoils a bit, sits there, and I pick her up by Not grabbing for her head, but rather, lifting her by her lower 2/3 of her body. I have an adult female who assumes the S position when her tub's opened, but she means business; she once struck, and coiled, on me. This was not a defensive strike; it was a prey strike! To prevent this, again, I tap her gently (NOT hard) in the nose with the bottle, and she recoils and seems to stop and think. I then nonthreadteningly, but confidently, lift her by her body, not her head area, and do not point her nose at myself or another person. She and my little bratty one both get more interested in me, my shirt, the table, etc. after removed.

[Ginevive]

I would also recommend consistency in his tub. Changing substrates and hides is going to stress him. I would stick to one type of substrate (of course, cleaning it and replacing it with new, same-type substrate when dirty!)

[NickP]

No, I have my own apartment. He is located in the living room but we spend most of the time in the bedroom or outside. It's been 4 days since I've changed the substrate and I hadn't bothered him until yesterday. I thought that might be sufficient. The thing is when I first got him I let him be for upto 2 weeks I believe. he had gotten very jumpy and hissy but within 2 weeks I had him used to me and calmed him down a lot. Then RANDOMLY this happened. It happened before I changed substrates or for the matter of fact anything really. I thought he might be hungry so I fed him on monday and he happily ate Then I tried handling him for the first time yesterday and at first he seemed fine sitting in his ball tolerating my gentle strokes. At one point I made an attempt to pick him up but he hissed and I decided to take my time rather than just go for it and grab him. Then after 3-4 minutes he uncoiled out of the ball and the second he saw me snapped into that S striking position. It's a bummer really. The only explanation is that he might be shedding but I haven't seen his eyes turn blue yet. I doubt I've missed it since I've been paying a close attention to him for awhile now.

So here's my question. What would be the best course of action in my case? I'm not scared to take him out really, but would it be better to simply take him out and handle for 5 mins and put him back, and slowly work it up from there? ....or let him be for a week and get used to the substrate and perhaps even shed?